I was outside today for a whopping 3 minutes between getting into my car and walking from the car to the shuttle and let me tell you.. That was quite enough time. If you arent reading from the Pittsburgh area, let it be known that as I was getting ready for work this morning I was watching the local news and 370 schools have already been closed or delayed today due to extreme snow and cold temperatures. We have a windchill of -7 and its supposed to reach a high of 20 degrees today.. a HIGH of 20 degrees? Gross.
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So what makes this new FDA approved drug so different? The new drug that has been approved is called Contrave and it is actually a combination of two drugs that were already on the market. Now for the crazy part.. the two drugs that are mixed to create this new "miracle diet pill" are nalterxone and bupropion which are used to treat what? Naltrexone is used to treat those with COCAINE addiction and bupropion is used as an anti depressant. Why? because they are assuming that everyone that is obese is addicted to food and depressed. Also, weight loss pills have a high risk of increasing suicidal thoughts. So basically the pills help to make you happy and motivated while blocking the pleasure receptors in the brain that are associated with food.
Now, call me a realist or maybe just a romantic dreamer but why are we wasting money even researching these things? I understand that people who are morbidly obese may have to take off weight quickly to save their health and may not even be able to move to exercise because it may cause serious physical harm.. but how about being proactive instead of reactive? How about giving people the tools to naturally lead a healthy lifestyle that will prevent them from becoming obese instead of treating the problem afterwards? How about fining companies and restaurants that use preservatives and addictive additives in their food (McDonalds.. cough cough.. Burger King..cough cough) ? How about supporting the youth nutrition bills currently in the Senate? (which Obama signed this morning by the way!! yay!) What about giving tax breaks or incentives to companies that offer mid day exercise breaks? or healthy vending machines?
We are already in a major deficit and an economy that is struggling every day to rebuild itself. Why are we spending money researching drugs like this when there are diseases that arent preventable that need the attention of top scientists? Cancer, MS, and other major diseases deserve the funding.
We need to teach America not to be lazy and think of the amount of money we would save? I am not saying that I dont take my weekends sometimes to just relax but if you're spending your life "just relaxing" than thats an issue. People need to stop waiting for the next miracle drug or surgery to come out, put down the cheeseburger and get outside.
What about the ability to make ones own choices? Fining a company because they have high fat or additives (have you seen what gets sprayed on your frozen vegetables?) on the menu is not about freedom. People suffer or thrive from the choices they make and therefore, the point should be public awareness of what goes in foods (good or bad) and you choose to eat them or not. The nutrition bill has a lot of politics in it not necessarily what is good for children. Sad but true!
ReplyDeleteOn the drug issue, many drugs are found to be useful in other areas once researched. Aspirin for example. Who would have thought that something so simple could be used to thin blood, prevent heart attack, and stop your headache? It is never black or white. Life would be so much simpler if it where. I am all about transparency and letting people make their own choices as long as I don't have to pay for them!
I agree that information needs to be made readily available about what is really in our food but will that ever happen considering there are millions of dollars being spent everyday to mislead the average consumer? The only thing that these companies understand is money.. fining them and hitting them in their pocket books is the only way to make real change.
ReplyDeleteThe nutrition bill has ties to the health care bill because additional bills have been tacked on for the ride. The bill itself had to do with proper school lunches and nutrition standards for public schools. It was a bill in the riht direction.. unfortuntaly republicans feel the need to fight everything that comes through for a vote because they are being little cry babies that they arent in office and a black democrat is. So instead of doing small things to help people they are stopping any progress on anything .. like a toddler throwing a tantrum for not getting their favorite candy bar.
I am saying though that drugs like aspirin too are used preventatively. It is all about preventing, educating and motivating naturally. I dont think that chemically tricking your body into doing something it doesnt naturally do is ok.
PS anyone reading this political rant.. please note that this above comment is from my mom.haha.. we differ A LOT on our political views. so dont take offense and my retort haha